Authorship of the Zohar, the most important work of Kabbalah, is traditionally credited to the 2nd century CE Jewish sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who is often known by his acronym, the Rashbi (Rashby). Scholars believe the work was compiled in Spain in the 13th century. By tradition, the tomb of the Rashbi is 5km northwest of Tsfat on the slopes on Mt Meron, somewhere under a rigorously sex-segregated complex (men to the left, women to the right) that appears to date, in part, from the Crusader period.
Since his precise burial place is unknown, there is no actual tomb, just a tziun (marker) – inside a multialcove synagogue – above which candles flicker behind smoke-darkened glass.
